Undercover Undercovers
by themerebear16
Summary: Elliot returns after a two year hiatus. What had he been doing? How will Olivia react? What will happen when they have to go undercover for an extended amout of time, prisoners in a house? Smut in later chapters :) Rating might change :3
1. The Return

~Elliot~

My heart races as I push the button for the fifth floor. The floor where I spent fifteen years working on my denial. I'm a bit nostalgic and yet I'm nervous too; to see them, to see her. The doors slide open and I step out into the hall, walking to lean on the far brick wall. I close my eyes and listen to the sounds that for so long had just been background noise: the rustling papers, the clang of metal against metal, the telephones ringing off their hooks, women crying. They are oddly comforting. I was startled out of my reverie when I hear a voice behind me say "Stabler?"

"Hey Fin, my man!" He grinned a toothy smile and we did our handshake fist bump that we had concocted days before what I had become to call "The Incident". He and I stared at each other, trying to come up with something meaningful.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that Elliot Stabler?" Munch let out a chuckle. "It's good to see you buddy!" He wrapped me in a rare hug. I patted the older man's back.

"I've missed you too John." I could feel his ribs through his shirt, causing me to feel even more guilty at my exit over two years ago. I had not only abandoned my best friend, but I had also abandoned my best guy friends as well.

"So what brings you back to the 1-6? I don't believe it has to do with Munch's coffee. If anything it's gotten worse." Fin stuck out his tongue in disgust while John put a hand to his heart.

"That hurts Finn, hits me right in the heart." Munch smiled. We walked into the bull pen and I turned so my back was to the Captain's office. I opened my mouth to explain why I was there when John's expression changed. His eyes widened, looking past my head. "Hey Liv! Guess who's here!" He mouthed 'Stabler' and the background laughter that had been nagging my mind ceased abruptly. The male chuckles that had been coupled with it continued but soon tapered off, somewhat confusedly.

"Liv? Are you okay?" A wave of protectiveness that had become an involuntary reaction after working together for over a decade washed over me. I stiffened. That was _my_ line. No one else's. I slowly rotated around to look at my former best friend. Leaning against her desk, she was as beautiful, if not more so, as she was when we first began working together last century. Her hair was a bit longer than it had been in previous years, ditching the kind of butchy cut she had worn for so long. It made her feminine *assets* be more pronounced, more lucious. Her eyes, those gorgeous pools of chocolate, however, were glazed over. The dark haired man who was standing in a kind of protective stance next to her, a stance I had so often adopted. His dark gaze drifted between the other two detectives and I, causing me to shift uncomfortably. He left her side, if somewhat reluctantly, and crossed the room to stand in front of me. He was about half a head shorter than me yet he still managed to assert a kind of imposing position.

"Judging from the friendlieness that Munch and Finn have shown you, I take it you are the infamous Elliot Stabler?" He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. I felt a flash of anger at the negative connotation that went along with 'infamous' but I let it pass, not wanting to get off on the wrong foot with my partner's- ex-partner's new partner. 'Wow, that's going to get confusing sooner or later' I thought to myself as I held out my hand to the man.

"That would be excellent detective work, Detective..." I trailed off, looking for his ID, "Amairo." I grinned.

"Ah-mar-oh." He corrected, his gaze narrowing as if he knew I had intentionally screwed up his name. He looked over my shoulder and I heard the door to the bull pen slam shut. "Hey Rollins! Come here!" I turned around ,yet again, to see a petite blonde striding over to our congregation. She settled into a leaning stance near Finn. Her grey blue gaze ran over me while she raked her hand back through her hair, causing it to cascade waterfalll-like down her head. I held out my hand.

"Elliot Stabler, and you are..." I brought out my best gentlemanly manners, sensing a sort of regalness underplayed by an aura of seriousness. She grinned, her icy expression melting off her face, replaced by one of warmth.

"Amanda Rollins," her voice had a Southern twang that reminded me of honey on biscuits for some reason, "I've heard great things about you Elliot." I chuckled at the woman who was warming up the room. I heard an *ahem* behind me and turned my head, to see Olivia had returned to Earth and was not looking very happy at all. She took off towards the cribs, her finger held up over her shoulder, signaling me to follow her. I shrugged at everyone, promising to return shortly. I followed my ex best friend out of the room, trying to come up with any plausible way to explain without sounding like a total dick. I sighed. This was going to take a while.


	2. The Cribs Part 1

~Olivia~

Why was he here? After all this time, why come back now, when I'm finally back on track? I groaned inwardly while scrutinizing the man who for twelve years had been my solace, my best friend. He seemed to be doing the same to me, making me feel self conscious. A bit more built, he had lost some of the weight gained during the last year we had worked together. His hair was the same thickness, which wasnt much, and he had a dusting of stubble across his lower face like he hadn't shaved for two days. I cleared my throat again and his gaze snapped from my legs back up to my face, his eyes boring into mine like a battle of wills, brown against blue. I simply turned and sat on a bed in the far corner of the room and began picking the peeling paint on the frame. He stayed where I left him. It was kind of symbolic of what he had done to me: walked away while I stayed where I had been. My lips twisted into a form of a smile at the irony. His expression grew worried at my seemingly sudden change of mood. He approached the bed and cautiously sat on the cot across form me. We had never been good at the whole heart to heart thing, preferring to act out what we needed communicated. I spoke first.

"How have you been?" My query seemed to take him by surprise. He shifted so he was perching on the side frame of the bed.

"I've been doing okay. I haven't been needing to work so I've been able to spend more time with my kids. They seem to like that. Kathy likes it. We've all been pretty content." He settled back into the uncomfortable silence, allowing me to process. He was still with Kathy which was good. I had always liked her and she made him happy. However the Elliot I had known wouldnt have lasted a week, let alone two years, without collaring someone. I pondered where he channeled all his pent up frustration when I remembered his muscles. I pointedly stared at his biceps, shifting between them and his torso, waiting for him to say what I was thinking. "Liv, I'm going crazy." I let out a chuckle, followed by another, which soon led into a full blown laughing frenzy. Through my spasms of hilarity, I could see his face still showcased a worried expression. He must think that I've finally lost it. I managed to stop seizing into fits of laughter. Wiping tears of mirth from my eyes, I straightened back up.

"I'm not surprised. The suburban life never seemed to fit you El." I let out a giggle, quite unlike me. "I'm not going to ask you why you're back here because that would just insult my knowledge of you. But I will ask you why now? What happened Stabler?" His face lapsed into one of ease.

"Liz and Dickie are both in high school now, so they don't particularly like me hanging around the house all day. Eli is in preschool at the church. Kathy is back nursing at the hospital. My house is so organized I feel like I live in a laboratory." He grimaced. I couldn't stop grinning, imagining him busying himself with an apron and feather duster, even though most people didn't use feather dusters anymore. He attempted to glare at me. I just kept smiling and had to start biting my lower lip to keep from laughing again. His expression broke from a stern glare into the shit-eating grin that I knew and loved. "To be completely straightforward here this definitley isn't the reaction I was expecting, Benson. Although you never have ceased to surprise me." His smile softened into one of tenderness and I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks like a leech.

"Well thanks, I guess." I attempted a weak chuckle, not liking the severity of the direction the conversation was turning. He leaned across the two foot space between the beds and clasped his hand over mine, giving it a gentle squeeze for a man of his size. I gazed at his hand enveloping mine, reveling in how big it was, how masculine. I hadn't even noticed how large his hands were in all the years we had spent passing files and going undercover together. I realized I was fixating on an entirely unimportant thing and that an awkward silence had stretched through the duration of my observations. I looked up to find his face inches from mine. "Whoa, hello there. Invading personal space one of your new hobbies?" I leaned away, getting dizzy from his proximity.


	3. The Cribs Part 2

~Elliot~

I grinned at her little joke, deciding not to push it any farther. I pulled my head back so it was comfortably resting on my shoulders. She visibly relaxed, her shoulders slumping down to a more casual position. Leaning her head against the wall, her brown eyes gazed at me, spattered with curiosity, confusion, and another emotion I couldn't quite place. She spoke again.

"You know, you can't expect to pick up where we left off, El." She said this softly, her gaze averted to the broken light in the far corner. I could hear it buzzing and shifted my position on the bed, causing the springs to squeak. Leaning forward again so that my elbows were resting on my knees, I maneuvered my self so that she was forced to look at me. Attempting to convey all my apologies and regrets into my eyes, I simply looked at her. She dipped her head and I realized that I would have to explain myself.

"Liv, I know we were never good with those deep conversations. I mean, I tried to tell you that you would be a good mother and you practically ripped my head off." I paused, watching the smile creep across her face.

"We had some good times. However all good things have to come to an end right? That's what I thought. After Jenna I used that as my excuse to retire from the force. I spent more time with my kids, with my wife. But no matter how many lunches I packed, how many vacations I planned, not matter how many nights I fell asleep with Kathy in my arms, you never left my mind. You were always there, a nagging, pesky, little thing that I couldn't leave alone." Her stance straightened to one of defense, her mouth opening with a retort. Before she could cut in I spoke quickly.

"I missed YOU. Not the job, not collaring perps, not John's coffee. You." She looked taken aback. I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand. "I remembered that even though I had left the force, even though I wasn't on Cragen's payroll, that I could still see you, talk to you, hold you. It may not be the same but it's something right?" I looked at her hopefully. The blush had disappeared, her features arranged in a thoughtful expression. I used this time to take her in once more. Her face had more lines, not unattractive lines. Laugh lines framed her plump mouth, albeit small crows feet peeked out the corner of her eyes, giving her a bit of an older look than the detective I had left two long years ago. My gaze drifted back to her lips. She wasn't wearing any lip gloss, no lipstick, though I could have sworn I smelled menthol. I held in a chuckle, wishing to not disturb the silence that had become more comfortable.

"Yeah, that's something. But I have a better idea." Her lips moved, startling me out of my reverie. I flickered my eyes up to hers. They had been looking down on me, perhaps a bit disdainfully, I don't know. I didn't understand it. She stood up, her hand falling from my grasp. "Follow me."

Hips swaying, arms swinging by her sides, she sauntered across the room and spun on her heels. Motioning with her hands for me to stand up. Feeling like a misbehaving kindergartner, I crossed the room. Out the door, I trailed behind her as we entered the squad room once again. We were not, however, heading for the group of detectives. Instead she veered right, towards the captain's office. I gulped.


End file.
